Shanghai-Final Anna X - ucl.ac.uk · history of China's urban ... living in Shanghai from nearly 40 countries including Great Britain, ... Ten major cultural constructions like the

I. INTRODUCTION: THE CITY

A. CHARACTERISTICS AND TRENDS IN THE URBAN DEVELOPMENT OF SHANGHAI

The pace of urbanisation in China since 1978,together with the implementation of the EconomicReform and Opening Up Policy and rapid economicgrowth, has been fairly fast. Cities - big, medium-sizedand small - have all undergone a period of constructionand redevelopment.

Shanghai, one of the largest cities in China, sitsmidway down China's coastline, where the country'slongest river, the Yangtze, or Chang Jiang, pours intothe sea. The city, at the mouth of the Yangtze Riverdelta, has the East China Sea to its east, the HangzhouBay to the south, while behind it is the vast span ofChina's interior landmass. Shanghai's geographicallocation facilitates all forms of transport, with first-ratesea and river ports combined with the huge water trans-portation network, well-developed railways and roads,and two large international airports, which no otherChinese city has.

The total area of Shanghai at the end of 2001 was6,340.5 km2, covering 18 districts, one county, 144zhen, 3 xiang, 99 sub-districts, 3,407 residents commit-tees, and 2,699 village committees. Shanghai occupies0.06 per cent of the national area and houses 1.31 percent of the national population, producing 5.16 per centof national income. Its GDP per capita has reachedUS$4,510, which is 4.96 times the national average.

The case of

Shanghai, China

by ZHU Linchu and QIAN Zhi

Contact:ZHU Linchu and QIAN ZhiThe Development Research Centre of ShanghaiMunicipal Government,No. 200 People's Avenue, Shanghai, 200003, P. R. ChinaTel.+86 21 63582710 Fax. +86 21 [email protected] [email protected]

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Figure 1: Urbanisation in China

Urban Slums Reports: The case of Shanghai, China

1. Physical GeographyShanghai has a typical North Asian subtropical

monsoon climate, mild and moist, with four distinctseasons and plenty of sunshine and rain. Spring andautumn are relatively shorter than summer and winter.In 2001 the annual average temperature was 17.7C,there were 276 frost-free days, and annual precipitationwas 1,594.3 mm.

The Shanghai area is criss-crossed by rivers andstreams. The surface area of the water bodies in the cityis 697 km2, 11 per cent of the total area. The main riversare the Yangtze, the Huangpu and the Suzhou.Shanghai sits on the flat silt plain of the Yangtze Delta,with a small number of hills, the average altitude being4 metres above sea level.

2. Development History

The development curve of Shanghai is unique in thehistory of China's urban development. In 751 AD (the10th year of the Tian Bao Reign of the Tang Dynasty),the jurisdictional set-up of Huating County came intobeing in what is now the Songjiang District, covering theland to the north of what is now Hongkou District, southof the coast, and east of the town of Xiasha. In 991 AD(the 2nd year of Chun Hua Reign of the Song Dynasty),

the Shanghai Zhen was established. In 1260 -1274 (inthe Jing Ding Reign and Xian Chun Reign of the SongDynasty), Shanghai Zhen had already become a veryimportant seaport. In 1292 AD (the 29th year of the ZhiYuan Reign of Yuan Dynasty), Shanghai City wasformally established. During the 16th century, in themiddle of the Ming Dynasty, Shanghai came to be knownas a national cotton textile handicraft centre. In 1685 (the24th year of the Kang Xi Reign of Qing Dynasty), thecustoms house was established. At this time Shanghaihad become a city of two hundred thousand residents.

In the 80 years or so after 1843, especially after 1927when Shanghai was designated as a Special City,municipal development was very rapid. 1934 sawShanghai's population increase to 3.4 million, and thecity was called the financial centre of the Far East, rank-ing fifth after London, New York, Tokyo and Berlin. At thattime, the statistics showed that foreign trade and indus-trial output in Shanghai accounted for more than half ofthe China total. More than 80 per cent of the residents ofShanghai were born elsewhere. At the peak of foreignintervention, there were more than 150,000 expatriatesliving in Shanghai from nearly 40 countries includingGreat Britain, France, the United States, Japan,Germany, Russia, Italy, Poland, Czechoslovakia andIndia. Such a host of immigrants from the world as wellas other parts of China greatly enriched the local cultureof Shanghai and facilitated the intercourse betweenShanghai and many other countries of the world.

3. Population Structure and Demographic Changes

Shanghai is among the cities with the largest popula-tions in the world. Its total registered population in 2001was 13.3 million, which is 2.6 times larger than that of1949, with a density of 2,093 people per km2. The ratioof urban to rural population is 75.3:24.7. The male tofemale gender ratio is 50.4:49.6. The non-resident popu-lation has grown very rapidly with socio-economicexpansion. According to the fifth census conducted inShanghai, the city now has a non-resident population of3.9 million.

Shanghai was the first Chinese city to experiencenegative natural population growth, starting in 1993. In2001 the birth rate of residents was 4.3 per thousand

and the death rate 7 per thousand, with the nega-tive growth rate being minus 2.7 per thousand.

The fifth census also found that the proportion ofresidents with tertiary education accounted for 11.4per cent of all those residents older 6, which is 4.3per cent higher than in 1990. The proportion of resi-dents with only primary education or less droppedby 11.1 per cent during the same period.

Figure 3 Population Change in Shanghai

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

Total

non agric

Figure 2: Geographical Location of Shanghai

2

the non-state sector increased from 10,000 in 1990 to170,000 in 2000.

3. The rapid expansion of the foreign investmentsector. The opening up of the economy, with the Pudongdevelopment the leading the way, foreign direct invest-ment (FDI) and foreign trade increased day by day, tomake Shanghai the most open city in China. Foreigninvestment funds in the 1990s came to US$45.6 billion,about the same as the GDP of India. There are now250,000 businesses with foreign investments inShanghai, among which 54 are foreign financial firms.

4. Since the 1980s, Shanghai has undertaken majorinfrastructure projects like the fast mass transit system,the expressway network connection with neighbouringareas, an international airport and international info-port.Ten major cultural constructions like the Oriental PearlTV Tower were also built. The city's environment hasmade marked progress with a green belt circling the cityand a number of fairly large green parks. The forestationrate of the city has gone up steadily. Several hugeconstruction projects are under way at this moment,such as the deep water container port in Yangshan, thephase two construction of the Pudong internationalairport and the world's first commercial magnetic levita-tion railway line.

6. Future DevelopmentsThe early years of the 21st century have become a

critical time for Shanghai to develop as an internationalcentre of economy, finance, trade and ocean shipping.

The goal of Shanghai's economic develop-ment is to achieve a GDP growth rate two tothree percentage points higher than thenational rate such that GDP per capita in2007 will be US$7,500. Meanwhile, a socialsupport system aiming at all round humandevelopment will be achieved. The city'sdevelopment focuses on the central area,new areas and the central townships ofZhen. With the further development of abetter environment, the integration process

4. Municipal Management SystemShanghai has a two-level government and three-level

management system. That is to say, governments at themunicipal and district/county levels. The municipalgovernment takes care of city macro-planning, regula-tions, industrial sector management and market ordermaintenance. The district/county government is devotedto local construction, management and administrationand law enforcement. The two levels of governmentsare co-ordinated and reinforce each other. In addition,the third arm is sub-district zhen and xiang administra-tion that performs local community management, suchas cleaning and sanitation, traffic order, neigh-bourhood safety and environmental protection.

The agency responsible for the city watersupply is the water supply section under themunicipal bureau of water affairs. Its responsibil-ities are municipal water use planning, waterconservation, use of underground water, includ-ing mineral water, license issuing and day to daycare, together with running water pipe construc-tion and protection and supervision of privatewater facilities. The running water supply isentrusted to four municipal water companies inMinhang, Pudong, Shibei and Shinan.

The municipal power supply is managed by theShanghai Power Company. SPC has four sub-compa-nies for power distribution.

5. Economic Development Aspects of the 1990s

Shanghai's economic take-off and systemic transfor-mation occurred to a large extent in the 1990s, when thePudong New District development began, as the"dragon head" for the Yangtze River Basin develop-ment.

The main aspects of this process were:1. Stable and sustained economic growth. During the

1990s, Shanghai's economy experienced a two digitgrowth, with little fluctuation.

2. The steady development of a market economy.Thanks to the market reforms, the debt to assets ratio ofthe state owned enterprises (SOEs) dropped from 78 percent to below 50 per cent. The number of businesses in

02468

1012141618

1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000year

g(

)

China

Shanghai

Figure 4: Economic Growth Speed: Shanghai v. National Average

Figure 5: FDI in Shanghai

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

FDI(US$ 100 million)

3

UNDERSTANDING SLUMS: Case Stud ies fo r the G loba l Repor t on Human Set t lements 2003

of urban and rural development will be stepped up, withthe urbanisation rate reaching 80 per cent. The resi-dents will enjoy higher incomes and better quality of life,including an improved living environment.

B. HISTORY AND FUTURE OF THEOLD DOWNTOWN AREA

In China, the social structure has been such that thedivision between city and countryside has existed formany years because of the system of residential regis-tration. The system made it difficult for the farmingpeople to move into the urban areas, and as such thepolitical conditions were not apt for the formation of"slums". However, together with economic reform, therehas recently been a significant increase in unemployedworkers and of farming people migrating to town. Somedowntown areas and the city-countryside interfacesuffered from a gradual deterioration of living condi-tions, and some places began to look like "slums". Poorliving conditions are concentrated in places where oldneighbourhood "lane" houses and makeshift huts domi-nate. Such places are called xia zhi jiao (downsidecorners) in the local dialect, though no "slums" formedin the strict sense of the word.

1. The Formation of the Old Style Living Quarter Areas

The old style living quarters area in Shanghai consistmainly of "lilong" houses. In ancient times, Shanghaihad the saying "five households make a neighbourhood(lin), and five lins make a community (li)". Long meansa narrow road, the area where the narrow roadsconnect such houses is referred to as a lilong. Over theyears, the term lilong has been used to refer to clustersof houses or neighbourhoods in Shanghai.

Lilong housing started in the mid-19th century, andwas based on the traditional house style south of theYangtze. Meanwhile, it was also influenced by theWestern idea of "rows of houses". In 1853, (the 3rd yearof the Reign Xian Feng of Qing Dynasty), to flee fromthe "Daggers Society" uprisingChinese landowners andother gentry families rushed into the concessions fromthe old Chinese city and the vicinities of Shanghai, toflee from the "Daggers Society" uprising. And the Britishdevelopers took advantage of the sudden upsurge indemand for housing and built a number of woodenhouses. By 1860, there were already almost 9,000 suchwooden houses named li in the "InternationalSettlements", setting the pattern for the early Shanghaililong neighbourhoods.

After 1869 (the 8th year of the Reign of Tong Zhi ofthe Qing Dynasty), more and more of these woodenhouses were demolished by the "municipal council" outof fear of fires. What followed were the old Shikumenstyle houses (the front door in the style of warehouseswith stone slabs for door frames). These houses standin a row, while each has an open air courtyard in theChinese tradition. The stone slab door frames plus thethick back-lacquered doors give the houses their nameshi (stone), ku (warehouse), men (door). Such shiku-men houses became an immediate success andexpanded fast. Some time after 1890 (the 26th year ofthe Reign of Guang Xu of Qing Dynasty), developersbuilt many more such shikumen houses.

By 1919 a new style shikumen was in vogue, accom-modating the needs of nuclear families with differentlevels of income, mostly in the western part of theconcession area. From 1910 to 1930, while the newstyle shikumen houses continued to be built, newCantonese shikumen lilong houses appeared. Thesehouses tended to be less tall than the typical shikumenand looked more like the Cantonese city houses.

4


Figure 6: The DistributionMap of Shacks and Huts inShanghai in 1949

Facilitated by easy domestic and international trans-port and a massive inflow of foreign capital, industryand commence expanded and demanded more land.Land prices kept increasing. Old style shikumenhouses with courtyards and large rooms took too muchprecious space. As a result the new style shikumenwere developed. The new style shikumen had only onemajor room on each floor and was equipped with somemodern facilities, which was perfect for nuclear fami-lies. The boom years for the construction of new styleshikumen lilong houses were 1919 to 1938, and these

houses spread in the downtown districts of Jingan,Luwan, Xuhui and Changning.

Almost at the same time, war and famine drove largenumbers of impoverished peasants to Shanghai toseek jobs. They were too poor to afford to rent houses.Instead, they built make-shift huts, often with bamboomats, called pengwu, and shacks to protect themagainst sun and rain, by the roadside, along the banks


of the rivers and streams, near the bus terminals andaround the railway stations as well as in the vacant lotsaround the factories. As things got worse, the growth ofpengwu huts and shacks kept its momentum. By 1949there were 23.6 million m2 of housing, with a livingspace per capita of 3.9 m2. Apartments accounted for4.2 per cent at 1 million m2, houses with gardens 9.5 percent at 2.2 million m2, new style lilong houses 19.9 percent, at 4.7 million m2, old style lilong houses 52.7 percent, at 12.4 million m2, and shacks and huts 13.7 percent, at 3.2 million m2.

2. The Reconstruction of the Old Areas in Shanghai

The reconstruction of old areas seems to be an eter-nal theme of city construction. The municipal govern-ment of Shanghai has paid great attention to it. WhileShanghai continuously built more new housing, thereconstruction of old areas was vigorously carried out.Shanghai's achievements in the reconstruction of old

areas and alleviation of poor housing wonprizes, including the 1995 UN Prize forHuman Settlements and the 1996 UNPrize for the Exemplary 100.

During the second half of the 20thcentury, according to municipal housingand land administration data, 40.3 millionm2 old buildings were demolished, ofwhich 27.9 million m2 were housing. Ofthe old housing demolished, 4.9 millionm2 were shacks and huts, accounting for17.6 per cent of the total. The history ofthe reconstruction can be divided intothree stages.

Figure: View of the City

Figure 7 Composition of Building of Shanghai in Main Year

0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

1978 1980 1990 1995 2000 year

(10,

000

sq.m

)

Dwellings (Total)

Villas

Apartment

Staff Dwellings

Improved Residential Block

Old Residential Block

Simple Housing

Others

5

1. 1949-1977 This period featured the improvement of the dire living

conditions on a smaller scale. In the early 1950s, themunicipal government worked hard at improving theroad conditions, providing fire escapes, setting uprunning water, repairing the ramshackle huts in theareas where shacks and huts were concentrated. In the1960s, selective work was done on improving a numberof shacks and huts concentrated in areas such asFangua Long in Zhabei district and Mingyuan Cun inYangpu district

2. 1978-1991This period marked the beginning of the mass recon-

struction of the old areas. The process started in theearly 1980s with a number of old houses in Long No.303 and around Penglai Road. Then a few years later,the municipal government planned to reconstruct theold houses in 23 areas with a total residential area of410 hectares in more than 300 neighbourhoods andmore than 3.3 million m2 of old housing were to beremoved. The best known were Jiugeng Li, YaoshuiLong, Shimin Cun, and West Lingjia Zhai. 5.7 million m2

old and ramshackle housing were demolished, amongthem 1.2 million m2 of shacks and huts.

3. 1991-2000This stage witnessed a brand new development. The

Shanghai Government promised in 1991 to demolishand reconstruct 3.6 million m2 of ramshackle housingand huts in the next 10 years. The goal to achieve was10 m2 of living space per capita and 70 per cent of the

housing would be complete with private kitchens andbathrooms. By 2000, more than 5 million m2 of shacksand huts had been removed, benefiting more than650,000 families. Newly built housing had a total floorspace of more than 100 million m2. Living space perperson increased from 6.7 m2 in 1991 to 11.8 m2 in2000. Housing with a private kitchen and bathroom rosefrom 36 per cent in 1991 to 79 per cent in 2001. One bigproject was the "Two Bays and One Long" project,highly representative of the effort.

Entering the new century, a new round of reconstruc-tion has begun, focussing on removing the old housingin old style lilong areas and worse, especially the gradetwo old style lilong and those houses without modernsanitation facilities. The total area removed will be morethan 20 million m2..

3. Major Approaches in the Reconstruction of Old Areas in Shanghai

For half a century, the approaches to reconstruction inthe old areas of Shanghai has gone through manychanges corresponding to the changes in China'seconomic system. The major modes and their specificcharacteristics are as follows:

3.1. Government "Bankrolls" AllUntil the 1980s, this was the sole mode used, in which

funds for the reconstruction of the old areas and freedistribution of new housing to the residents all camefrom the government. The municipal budget had to setaside an amount of funds for this purpose, and receivedno returns in general. As is obvious, this constituted asevere constraint in the reconstruction efforts, and themunicipal budget also suffered shortages.

3.2. Residents Co-operation with PublicAssistance

In those old areas where privately owned housing,mostly huts and shacks, dominated, the local residentsvoluntarily joined efforts to come up with some fundswhile some public institutions provided the rest of thefunds of the project. The new housing that resulted fromthe reconstruction project would then be resold to theoriginal residents at a discount and money returned tothose public institutions involved. This was a mode thatutilised funds from the private sector while public institu-tions "paid" and got housing for their employees. Thismode was used in eight downtown districts in 1991-1995 resulting in about 2 million m2 of new housing.

6


Year number ofhouseholds Housing space

1991 8,021 296.9

1992 38,240 1,419.0

1993 86,582 3,648.8

1994 92,784 3,815.4

1995 74,645 3,179.0

1996 86,492 3,843.3

1997 69,518 3,628.5

1998 81,091 3,466.4

1999 49,953 2,239.1

2000 68,293 2,883.5

Total 655,619 28,419.8

Source: Shanghai Statistics Bureau, 2001

Table 1 1991 - 2000 Housing Removed in Shanghai

3.3. "Tripartite Combination" of Government,the Collectives and Individuals

This mode asked the government, the collectives(work-units or dan wei) and the individuals each to maketheir own contribution to the reconstruction project. Thegovernment mainly provided favours in terms of prefer-ential policies and the dan wei came up with funds as aninvestment from their development and renovationbudget, and the residents paid money for the purchaseof the new housing. This mode provided effective moti-vations for the three parties to join efforts, though itsprojects were not sufficient.

3.4. Real Estate DevelopmentThis mode is the regular practice of real estate devel-

opment on a commercial basis, using land differentials.Since 1992, the real estate industry in Shanghai hasmade significant progress. The developers acquirefunds on their own, and make use of the land differen-tials in demolishing old houses in order to build newhouses for sale, which works very well.

For example, Luwan district applied this mode in the"Xiesan" project. In the late 1990s, the governmentcame up with a "bridging" policy by encouraging thedevelopers to use the vacant commercial housing sittingidle to house those residents whose shacks and hutswere to be reconstructed by the developers. Later,another policy called "demolish for green" was practisedby the government, whereby the shacks and huts aredemolished to make room for green lawns and smallpublic parks, and the residents were put into the vacantcommercial housing.

3.5. Municipal Infrastructure ConstructionThe municipal infrastructure projects involve many

areas of shacks and huts and old houses. One goodexample is the construction of the south-north elevated

express highway that went mostly along the ChengduRoad. The houses along the Chengdu Road crossingZhabei, Huangpu and Luwan were mostly degree twoold shikumen lilong, which had been thoroughly recon-structed. The data of the municipal administration of landand housing showed that in 1997 and 1998 such infra-structure construction helped the removal of 1.9 millionm2 of old houses, 27.8 per cent of the total reconstruc-tion in the same period.

4. The New Round of Old Area Reconstruction in Shanghai

The new round of reconstruction faces more severechallenges and heavier tasks. A survey by the municipaladministration of land and housing REF showed that bythe end of 2000, Shanghai had a total floor space of249.35 million m2. Of this, housing occupied 62 per cent,at 215.9 million m2, and the non-residential buildingsaccounted for the rest. Of the housing, 2 million m2 wereapartments, 2.5 million m2 houses with gardens, 186.9million m2 housing the dan wei provided for their employ-ees, 4.3 million m2 were new style lilong and 20.1 millionm2 were old lilong and worse housing.In the central partof the city, including Pudong New District there were still16.3 million m2 of old houses: 5.3 million m2 of degreeone old lilong and 2.2 million m2 of shacks (13.6 percent). There are three distribution patterns (see Table 2):

a. the whole block at 5.1 million m2 (31.5 per cent)b. concentrated at 9.3 million m2 (56.9 per cent)c. scattered at 1.9 million m2 (11.6 per cent)

The whole block pattern mostly occurred in Huangpu,Zhabei, Pudong, Jingan, Putuo, Hongkou, Yangpu andChangning districts. The concentrations of 5,000 m2 andabove occurred in the 10 districts of Yangpu, Hongkou,


Figure 8: Distribution Map of Whole Blocks of OldHouses

Figure 9: Distribution Map of Old Houses Concentrations of 5,000 m2 and above

Source: Unknown

7

Zhabei, Luwan, Huangpu, Putuo, Changning, Jingan,Pudong and Xuhui.

C. DISADVANTAGED GROUPS IN THE OLD AREAS AND THE WAYTO HELP THEM

In recent years Shanghai has kept the provision ofbasic living support and job security to the disadvan-taged groups of the society at the top of its agenda. Thisis done in accordance with the requirements of buildinga socialist market economic system and the principle of"people first". Achievements have been made andlessons learned, though more has to be done to findbetter methods.

1. Characteristics of the DisadvantagedGroups in the Old Areas of Shanghai

With the aim of establishing a socialist marketeconomic system, the economic restructuring andreform of the State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) is takingplace. This has led to the increase of redundancy,downsizing and unemployment. And so the disadvan-taged groups in Shanghai have grown. These groupsmostly live in the old areas of Shanghai.

1.1. Family Characteristics of theDisadvantaged Groups

A survey of 400 poor families found that 49.1 per centwere male and 50.9 per cent female. Their difficultiestend to peak when they are between 41 and 50 yearsold. Families mostly have 2 to 4 members, accountingfor 85.3 per cent of the total. Those families with onlytwo members are a single parent and child, or oldcouples. The standard three-member family tends to bea couple with one child.

1.2. Employment and IncomeIn the families surveyed, one wage earner on aver-

age supports 2.8 people. (see Table 3). For the stan-dard three member families, there was only one wageearner. Their jobs tend to be temporary (17 per cent)


Number of EmployedFamily Members Per cent

0 50.3

1 38.3

2 11

3 1.3

Table 3. Number of Employed Members of Disadvantaged Families

Figure 10: Average Monthly Income of the Disadvantaged Families

Source of Income Average Income per Person(Yuan, RMB)/(US$)

Fixed Support 64.61/7.81

Poverty Assistance 4.56/0.55

Relatives/Friends 25.52/3.09

Payment from Work 112.34/13.58

Rent Collected 0.85/0.10

Table 4. Income Sources of Disadvantaged Families

Source: Unknown

DistributionPattern

Degree OneOld lilong

Degree TwoOld lilong Shacks Total

Whole Block 155.9 311.2 47 514.2

Concentration 318.7 483.5 128.2 930.4

Scattered 52.3 90.2 46.7 189.2

Total 527 884.9 221.8 1633.8

Table 2. Distribution Patterns of Old lilong Houses (10,000 m2)

Source: Shanghai municipal administration of housing and land

Figure 11: Co-efficiency Between Age and Monthly Income

Source: Unknown

8

and in cleaning, security, family help and green protec-tion (13.2 per cent). Monthly income per person is about$330 yuan RMB (US$39.9).

Different age groups have different income averages,

but the fluctuations, subjected to the informants'composition, tend to be bigger among younger people.Those older than 34 show fewer fluctuations

1.3. Consumption and Impact of Illness on Disadvantaged Groups

Those families with a monthly living expenditureabout $1,107 yuan RMB (US$133.9) tend to break even(see Table 5). Expenditure on telecommunications andutilities is usually controlled at a low level. However,medical costs take a sizeable chunk of their incomes.Table 5 indicates that families with member(s) with seri-ous diseases tend to spend far more money than thosewithout.

1.4. Attitude and Expectations ofDisadvantaged Groups for Poverty Alleviation

Those surveyed expressed their hope that once theyare given the opportunity to become economically betteroff, they will be able to leave poverty behind. In otherwords, their confidence in a better life depends on jobprospects. In terms of the specific ways through whichthey expect to get out of poverty, the answers vary.About 39.4 per cent of informants think their own familymembers have to make efforts. About 28.6 per cent ofthem believe in social assistance and poverty alleviationbenefits. 27.4 per cent would depend mostly on helpfrom relatives and friends. About 1.6 per cent of themplace their hope in the work unit (dan wei) that employsthem or used to employ them. (Dan wei, or work unit,refers to any institution or entity in the state sector, orsubdivisions of that institution or entity. In the era of theplanned economy, a dan wei covered almost all itsemployees requirements: job, education, medical care,entertainment, fringe benefits, funeral. It is a uniquephenomenon that can be described as coverage fromcradle to grave. With Chinese market reform, the danwei system is gradually phasing out, though somepeople continue to hold onto the idea of dan weisupport.) Only 0.7 per cent of informants want to appealto the government at a higher level for alleviation.

Mr. Lin of Hongkou District: "Our three-generation family lives in a small apartment with a

floor space of less than 50 m2. My parents, both over 70, liveon their combined pensions of less than $1,000 yuan RMB(US$121) per month. Three years ago, my wife and I both lostour jobs and lived on unemployment support of about $600yuan RMB (US$72) per month while we had to support ourdaughter in school. Last year, the neighbourhood committeeand friends helped us to find jobs, photography work for me anda cleaning job for my wife. Our daughter has enrolled in a tech-nical training school. Our life has thus been improved. Still, wehope to improve our housing by moving into a new apartment."

Ms. Wang from the Zhabei District:

"My husband is disabled and I have diabetes. And we have tosupport our son who is still below working age. Our efforts alonewould not be able to lift us out of poverty. Therefore, socialassistance and help from relatives and friends are necessary.We are glad, though, that the low rent policy of the governmenthas made it possible for us to be without housing difficulties."

2. Channels for the Alleviation of Poverty for the Disadvantaged Groups in Old Areas of Shanghai

In recent years, Shanghai has stepped up its efforts atproviding social assistance and social security and hasadopted a series of effective measures in helping thedisadvantaged groups.


Table 5: Monthly Living Expenses of Disadvantaged Groups

Table 6: Impact of Serious Diseases on the Expenditure of Disadvantaged Families

Family TypeMonthly expendi-ture per person (Yuan, RMB)/(US$)

Per cent

Without member(s)with serious disease 352/42.56 85.5

With member(s) withserious disease 551/66.63 14.4

Total 381/46.07 99.9

Expenditure Item Average expense (Yuan, RMB)/(US$)

Food 527/63.7

Clothing 22/2.7

Medical care 203/24.5

Transport 33/4.0

Post and telecommunications 28/3.4

Rent 19/2.3

Housing management fees 3/0.4

Water 18/2.2

Electricity 44/5.3

Fuel 36/4.4

Total 1,107/133.9

Source: Unknown

9

2.1. A Continuously Improving System ofSocial Assistance

Since 1999 the social assistance system has under-gone a major readjustment. The government sponsoredsocial security system now covers all eligible citizens.The low-level social security support provided by thework units has now become the responsibility of themunicipal government, which has established andimproved a two levels of government, three levels ofmanagement and four levels of services provisionsystem (Figure 12).

3.2.2. All-Round Social Assistance

All round social assistance means the transition fromsimple living stipends to assistance in living expenses,medical care, education and housing, in a four-in-onemanner. Specifically, it means assistance to ensurebasic and necessary food and clothing for those quali-fied for minimum social security. Those qualified formedical assistance tend to have family members whosuffer from severe or even incurable diseases. Theirmedical costs put them in danger of losing their mini-mum living support. Therefore, medical cost subsidiesor other assistance are given and charity hospitals setup where patient registration fees are waived and the

10


Figure 12. The Shanghai Social Assistance System for Disadvantaged Groups

The Municipal level:

The District /County level:

Other government agencies, likethe Labour Bureau, Agricultural

Commission, EducationCommission, Public Health Bureau

and Medical Security Bureau,collaborate.

Social organisations, like municipaltrade unions, municipal charity funds,

committees for the aged, women'sfederations, federations for the

disabled, and individuals all participate.

Neighbourhood committees, and xiang/zheng assistance stations acceptand approve related applications.

Residents' and village committees carry out investigation and other serv-ices like passing the applications up and delivering assistance to the

approved recipients.

The Municipal Civil AffairsBureau is responsible for andadministers social assistance

work.

Approved recipients for social assistance.

Figure 13. Social Assistance Mechanism

Co-ordinating Task Group for Social Security(The co-ordinating body is the Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs)

Social Security Committee(working from the office of the Civil Affairs Bureau)

Social Assistance Station(the civil affairs chief working concurrently as the head of the station)

Social Assistance Officer

Neighbourhood/Xiang/Zhen level:

Residents Committee/Village Committee:

consulting fees, hospitalisation costs and medicinecosts are charged at a reduced level. Those disadvan-taged families with children in the compulsory educationage enjoy educational subsidies. Those disadvantagedfamilies with no housing or serious housing difficultiesreceive support to alleviate their housing problems. In2000 alone, 98,000 such families were granted waiversor partial waivers on their rents. A trial project is underway to provide these families with low cost housing. It isestimated that about 8,000 such families benefit fromlow rent housing.

3.2.3. Job Opportunities for Disadvantaged Groups

For those with exceptional difficulties, job opportunitieslike public facilities service work, temporary labourexport, and household business, are provided, plus jobtraining and probationary practice. By the end of 2000,more than 50,000 public services jobs were provided.

In addition, a "40/50 program" is carried out to helpthose disadvantaged people aged 40 (for women) and50 (for men) by creating jobs for them. The municipalBureau of Labour and Social Security provides fundsand detailed regulations. The district and county govern-ments are responsible for studies, conducting publicbidding and utilising social support (from companies thatare interested in accommodating such workers). Morethan 250 projects have completed public bidding, whichwill lead to 25,000 job opportunities.

What is more, a new form of "informal businessorganisation" has been created in Shanghai, wherebysome regular requirements are waived. The free job-finding system is set up by the district and countygovernments and at lower levels (Xiang and Zhen).People without jobs can go there and receive free serv-ices like business start-up consultations, managementadvice and social security applications.

D. PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS IN RECONSTRUCTION AND ALLEVIATION

1. Existing Problems

After an intensive input of efforts and funds for asustained period, old area reconstruction has beenachieved. However, a number of problems came up andstill exist, despite the obvious achievements.

1.1. The Costs of Reconstruction are Higher and Higher

20 years of reconstruction efforts have led to a dras-tic decrease in old houses, shacks and huts in the oldareas of the city proper where the population densitywas not the worst. What remains to be reconstructedare the areas that present extreme difficulties and thecosts grow higher and higher. Reconstruction costs interms of relocation of the existing residents were about$5,000 yuan RMB (US$604.6) per m2 between 1991and 1995. The next five years saw the cost going up to$7,000 yuan RMB (US$846.4). At present, the cost hasreached $8,000 yuan RMB (US$967.3) while in thosedistricts like Jingan, Huangpu, Luwan and Xuhui, it hasreached $10,000 yuan RMB (US$1209) per m2. Thecosts in the old areas are expected to continue to riseas a result of rising price indices and the readjustmentof relocation policies.

1.2. Density ProblemsThe high costs of reconstruction have significantly

constrained its size and quality. The developers areforced to increase density to achieve profitability. As aresult, the newly built areas suffer from densely built tallbuildings like a trees in forest, and the populationdensity remains high, exceeding the optimal limits of acity. This could well lead to problems like the deteriora-tion of the quality of life, and traffic jams - common ills ofbig cities.

1.3. Relocation ProblemsRelocation in the reconstruction of old areas in

Shanghai is done in a number of ways, including return-ing residents to the original area, relocating them inanother area, and through monetary compensation.With the large scale of reconstruction and the use ofvacant and idle commercial housing, those areas thatremain good "candidates" for reconstruction projectsare getting scarce. This is especially so because thebuilding of low cost housing for relocation is not possi-ble any more in the downtown areas where land pricesreached very high levels in the booming housingmarket. The first two means of physical relocation willsoon disappear.

1.4. Funding Shortages

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Source: unknown

Photo: Lilong

work efficiency and modern means of enforcement sothat the government can do a better job.

2.2. Better Management of Financial Resources

First the government has to increase budget support.The two tasks of social assistance and reconstruction ofold areas are by nature the government's responsibility.Therefore, the various levels of government are obligedto put in more funds. The government, using its forecastof socio-economic development, must plan ahead forthe needs of funds in these two aspects in the comingyears and accordingly set aside budgets for them.Meanwhile, a reserve fund for social assistance andreconstruction of old areas is necessary in the event ofunexpected costs and deficits.

Secondly, money raising and the operation of socialfunds need to be better regulated. The "Shanghai Fundfor Old Area Reconstruction", "Shanghai Fund for SocialAssistance" and "Shanghai Fund for PovertyAlleviation", are to be set up while the relevant regula-tions for managing and supervising their operation areto be worked out to ensure the effective functioning ofthese social funds.

2.3. More Supportive PoliciesThe official recognition of old areas for reconstruction

has to go together with the criteria for minimum livingsupport assistance. The buildings in these old areas areto be differentiated as "priority demolishing", "priorityreconstruction and preservation" and "non-prioritydemolishing". For the first category, a preferential policyis granted like the waiver or reduction of land lease feesand the workhouse demolishing fees. The second cate-gory applies to streets or blocks where some of thetraditional appearance is to be preserved and so effortsare to be rewarded. Anyway, the existing policies andregulations are to be sorted out and streamlined tomake them simpler and more effective.

Fund raising efforts face a lack of interest on the partof the participating parties as they confront an imbal-ance of input and output. What is more, the total fundsavailable for alleviating the situation of the disadvan-taged groups is limited while the expenses for theirsupport continue to grow with increases in their popula-tion. This discrepancy is acutely illustrated by the proj-ects aiming to preserve the valuable historical look ofexteriors in those areas. For instance, the "new heavenand earth" project was invested in by Hong Kong devel-opers with about one billion yuan RMB (US$0.12billion), in the downtown area with rows of shikumenhouses. The facade is preserved while the inside isturned into modern coffee houses, barbecues restau-rants and art galleries, which are prohibitively costly atUS$2,000 dollars per m2. This is obviously not a goodmodel for repetition.

1.5. Not All People Think AlikeMost people living in the area tend to be positive and

support the idea of reconstruction. For example, Mr.Yang Gengming (63) is a retired worker, whose familylives in an old area that awaits reconstruction and devel-opment in the Shanghai Steel New Village neighbour-hood in Pudong New District. When Mr. Yang learnedthat his place was chosen for reconstruction in the plan-ning for the World Exposition 2010, he rode his bicycle7,000 km across China on a World Expo promotion jour-ney. Support for reconstruction and for the WorldExposition 2010 in Shanghai was unmistakably seen inhis own action.

However, reallocation involves a considerablenumber of people, and compensation to each and everyone of them is not always seen as completely fair.Therefore, grievances about unequal treatment handi-cap to some degree the implementation of old areareconstruction plans. Some households delay movingout in order to press for higher compensations, whichsets bad examples for other households and generatesmore grievances. One house owner Mr. Li, said, "I amdetermined to stick out to the last so that I can bargainwith the developer for a high compensation." Mr. Li isnot alone in his attitude.

2. Proposals for Solutions

2.1 Further Streamline the AdministrationSystem

To attain the goal set by UN-Habitat for a "City withoutSlums", Shanghai has to combine the two tasks of oldarea reconstruction and the alleviation of the disadvan-taged groups, by integrating four aspects - living assis-tance, medical help, educational support and housingassistance. The systems of social assistance and oldarea reconstruction have to be further streamlined tobecome one system with a centralised authority, high

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GLOSSARY

Zhen Administrative level - neighbourhood

Xiang Administrative level - neighbourhood

Xia zhi jiao "Downside corners" - euphemism for slums

Lilong Old-style housing

Shikumen A traditional style of housing

Shikumen lilong Another old style of housing

Pengwu Makeshift huts, often with bamboo mats

Dan wei Work units

BIBLIOGRAPHYChinese National Bureau of

Chinese National Bureau of Statistics (1990 to 2001)The Yearbooks of China 1990 to 2001 China StatisticsPress, Beijing.

Economic Department of the Economic Commission ofChina (1997) Historical Data for China's GDPAssessment 1952-1995 Northeastern University Press,Dalian

Liu, Yong et al (2002) The Strategic Thinking ofUrbanization Development in China During the Tenth"Five-Year Plan" from the Guoyan website ADDRESS,March 21, 2002

Research Project Group (2001) "Social Assistance andAlleviation too the Disadvantaged Groups in Shanghaiand Policy Recommendations" Anthology of ResearchPapers Concerning Civil Affairs in Shanghai Shanghai

Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Statistics (1999 to 2001)The Yearbooks of Shanghai 1990 to 2001 ChinaStatistics Press, Beijing

Shen, Zhenchao (2001) "Thinking on the New Round ofReconstruction in Old Areas of Shanghai - one of "HotPoints" Research Papers for Municipal DecisionMaking, Shanghai

Su, Shaozhi (1999) "Analysis of 1949-1978Urbanization in China" Modern Chinese History StudyVol. 2, 1999

www.cei.gov.cn Characteristics of China's EconomicDevelopment April 27, 2002

Zhang, Zhongli (ed) (1990) Modern Shanghai CityStudy Shanghai People's Press, Shanghai

ACRONYMS

GDP Gross Domestic Product

SPC Shanghai Power Company

SOE State Owned Enterprises

FDI Foreign Direct Investment

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